"SNES has a more powerful CPU and higher resolution in games than the Genesis"

Which are bold claims if you ask me but it seems that some people believe this to be very true given the responses that can be found below the pinned comment there:

https://youtu.be/xu7DwMvnPE8

As far as I know, the Mega Drive runs most of its games in 320x224 pixels whereas the SNES is limited to 256x224 pixels for the vast majority of its library. Not only this means that the Mega Drive outputs a resolution which is 25% wider but this also means that the SNES has a flawed resolution as it is 8:7 shaped instead of being 4:3 leading to stretched visuals with usually wrong aspect ratio once displayed in 4:3 (which is the standard TV format for retro games so I have no idea how some designers thought that going with a different resolution shape could be a good idea...).


Then CPU. Again from what I can tell, the SNES has a few advantages in that regard such as requiring less clock cycles for some instructions but otherwise the Mega Drive CPU seems better in every ways: clock speed, data bus width, etc.


And more questionable claims can be found in those responses such as the SNES having better sound capabilities which seems to be yet another myth about this console as I've heard hundred of games on both systems and it's ultimately a tie in that regard, with some games sounding better on SNES whereas some others sound better on Mega Drive.


So, can the resident tech heads help to clarify all of this? Also it would be nice and welcome if some members have the possibility to do pics of multiplats on both systems taken on the same screen (actual TV) in order to definitely settle the resolution point. Some games that could be ideal to highlight this are the likes of Micro Machine 2 (not the first one as it uses the Mega Drive low resolution so it runs just like the SNES version), Zool, Mickey Mania or Thunder Force III versus Thunder Spirits.

It takes 10 seconds to download a RAW screenshot of a game like the lion king or mickey mania or thunder force 3 and see the obvious difference in resolution. If people can't be bothered to do that then there's nothing you can do to convince them.

As someone who wasted way too much time trying to prove to people they have no idea what they're talking about, I suggest you give up.

Are we seriously still arguing and analysing this bullshit after all these years?

YouTube comment sections are full of idiots, we all know that. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this whole thread appears to have been started in order to find someone who can provide backup in a youtube argument.

The SNES and NES before it used a weird resolution that got stretched to the full 4:3 display. IIRC, designers were aware of this and designed their artwork accordingly. I also seem to recall it severely messing up SNES to Saturn ports because of the change in pixel shape (Castlevania maybe).

The only way the Mega Drive and SNES can do a resolution higher than 320 x 224 is in compromised modes, which is why only one game from each library uses them.

The PC Engine has 96 resolutions, most of which are higher than 320 x 224 and at least a couple hundred games use them.

PC Engine games tend to handle more 2D action without slowdown than Mega Drive games. So in that regard it's "more poweful", but there's so much more involved in what each console can do at all, do easily or effectively. Some things aren't taxing for one console, but may be on another (like Mode 7). So they're not so much a display of power as they are a unique feature.

Multi-plats aren't a controlled comparison as they are developed under different circumstances. You can take away some indications from them, as you can any type of game, but there's no magic yard stick that lets you prove anything across the board without critical thinking.

Here we fucking go again...........

"You sound like a broken record" should be changed to " You sound like SEGA-16"

Discussing corn dogs vs. buffalo wings would be a more productive conversation than this

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Black_Tiger

The only way the Mega Drive and SNES can do a resolution higher than 320 x 224 is in compromised modes, which is why only one game from each library uses them.

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Hey now, Sonic 2 and Combat Cars use interlaced mode. That's definitely more than one game :​P

Also the Censor Xmas picture demo, if that counts.

On that note how does the interlaced mode limit the hardware? As far as I know it still has the same count of colours, sprites, backgrounds, etc. You are only limited in that you have to populate twice the screen using the same amount of tiles and cpu power, and I don't know how the linescroll tables would be set up in such a mode (do you get twice the entries or is each entry twice as large or what).
Maybe shadow/highlight is not allowed?

Pixels having 2:1 ratio is off-putting for a lot of people (i.e. it's only hi-res vertically but not horizontally). Also, tiles become 8×16 which uses up twice the video memory (though you can try working with it if you're starting from scratch).

On SNES the situation is different… It can be hi-res in both directions (albeit you lose the ability to do blending), but it doesn't apply to sprites at all, which really kills a lot of its usefulness. A few games use it to do simple translucency though (since at 512px wide the pixels are so small it blurs completely in composite), probably easier to use than the proper blending feature.

Every response I see on Youtube, you're hating on the SNES. Who gives a damn what others think, just enjoy the damned games and don't let the technical mumbo jumbo get in the way of that.


The console wars are long dead, let it go.

This reminds me of that guy we all went to school with. The guy who would get into an argument with someone and then immediately go running around to all of his friends to try and find one person who agrees with him, just so that he can go back and say: "here, look, Johnny agrees with me, so you must be wrong".

Question for the OP: do you actually own a SNES/SFC?

Might as well beat the dead horse.

The person in that comment section, probably watched those AVGN SNES vs. Genesis videos where AVGN said the SNES could do 512x448. What AVGN didn't mention is that this resolution mode was only used for about 2 games in the entire SNES library.